Friday, October 6, 2017

What is the state of United States' national health....is the tumor removeable?

One of the first lessons one is expected to integrate,
and then practice assiduously, when entering training in chaplaincy, is that
the only issues that matter are those of the patient. A similar boundary is
required in medicine, social work, counselling and, one hopes, in teaching. The
“issues” preying on the professional’s mind have to be set aside, insofar as is
feasible, so that the encounter can be focused on the immediate and pressing
needs of the “client”.

A similar separation of the issues of the professional
and the client pervades the work of grief counsellors, especially when dealing
with traumatic circumstances resulting in the death of many victims.

While politicians are not trained or skilled in the
professional requirements of the care-giving practitioner, there are minimum
expectations on compassionate friends, acquaintances, neighbours and first
responders. And, to be blunt and “in-your-face” about it, throwing paper towel
rolls to the victims of a devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico, as the nominal
president of the United States did on his historic and disastrous visit to the
capital, is not even close to meeting
minimum expectations.

All presidential “acts” have a “roll-playing” and
symbolic quality that elevates them (or is supposed to) above mere literal and
functional acts. Another gap in the preparation of many politicians is a
familiarity with the “poetic” the “symbolic” and the “art” of the situation.
And there is no reason or justification in dismissing the “poetic” or the
“symbolic” or the “art” of leadership. Together they comprise the core of the
exercise, and must never be reduced to a mere “frill” as unnecessary or as
irrelevant. There is something of a paradox in that a person is placed in the
position of a multi-dimensional institution, for which centuries of examples in
history have painted on the national canvas of the national imagination.

And that national canvas and that national imagination
frame how each citizen perceives him(her)-self and his relation to the nation
of his birth/adoption. It is the marriage of history and art that gives birth
to a national culture. And for any leader, especially one confronted by a
minefield of potentially existential threats, to disregard both art and history
is to both literally and metaphorically “rob” the nation of its heritage, and
demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge, interest and comprehension of both
his place in history and the potential of his moment in that landscape. This
theft, whether conscious or unconscious, is so penetrating that it impales the
chief executive and enclouds every decision made in the Cabinet Room and/or the
Oval Office. It effectively erases the two-plus centuries of history, and the
two-plus millennia of literature, drama, poetry and all other forms of artistic
expression. Racist slurs, blue-note
epithets, demagogic “your fired” as if the national stage merely replicated the
television “reality” show set are no substitute for nuanced language, attitude
and insight of the kind the world grew to honour from the previous occupant of
White House. And to paint that kind of artistry, both in language and in
governance as “effete” (a word likely still outside the vocabulary of the
president), is a testament to those who would trash Obama, without having to acknowledge,
own, or account for their blatant racism.

Words, symbols, carriage, character, institutional
reputation, rhetoric and resiliency…these all rely on a full grasp and
comprehension of one’s place in the universe, not merely the universe of the
last election, nor the universe of the real estate barrons of New York, nor the
universe of the nouveau riche clubs in their various venues. And the current
occupant of the Oval Office not only does not have, nor does he aspire to
acquire, even a minimal appreciation for such things. As a national leader, he
ridicules both the office and the reputation of the nation with ever tweet and
every laryngeal utterance. He is, and no army of generals can or will change
this, a self-inflated suit under a shock of obviously dyed straw, with an
ambition that seeks to erode the best of America and replace it with his most
sinister and self-serving palatial emptiness.

There is another aspect of this erosion of a
consciousness about the importance of art, symbol, language and history and
that is that the American media, as well as media sources and practitioners in
other countries are dedicating their news reporting and their column inches to
the literal with barely a tip of their tablet to the potential role that
metaphor, simile, personification, irony, satire and any of the plethora of
literary devices potentially in their quiver. This vacuuming of all contextual
and textual nuance from their reporting reduces much of the punditry that
follows to a personality “exposure” of the central figures. And no one needs
that kind of personal, ego-centric and epic exposure that the person currently
in the Oval Office.

Stripping the language of the public square of what
has stood the test of time, for centuries, including the demise of the liberal
arts programs in hundreds of (formerly) prestigious universities and colleges,
and substituting various levels of skill training (accounting, personnel
assessment, maintenance and repair of new technologies, economic theory and
practice, medical skill and protocols) will leave us worshipping at the altar
of “function” and have the effect of turning each of us into the means for some
other’s ends.

Kant warned us all about that ethical principle, and
without so much as a blink of our collective eye, we have become, in effect,
the means to another’s ends.

And no one takes that dictum to its most expansive
reach than the current president of the United States….everything and everyone
is a means to whatever he perceives his personal, narcissistic ends….”SUCCESS”
in his own definition.

Insulting Puerto Ricans by throwing packages of paper
towels at them, as if he were the “great benefactor” is insulting to those
struggling recipients. There could be no more clarion model of colonialism than
that scene…patronizing, demeaning, insulting and another historic nadir of
despicable performance by a person whose only obsession is his own person.

And yet, it is also an insult to every American, and
to the length and breadth of nearly three centuries of American history. And
then to trumpet the “wonderful” success of the relief efforts on the part of
the American government, while also sticking his thumb in the eyes of every
Puerto Rican, by reminding them of their fiscal debt is another act for which,
if those in leadership in the United States have a single ring of spine left,
should compel at least a censure, possibly an act of Congress that apologizes
to the Governor and the people of Puerto Rico, and an open letter of reproach
delivered in person to the White House.

Tillerson’s “moron” retort, following the trump speech
to the Boy Scouts, an organization he previously led, is a minimal report on
this president. And, by the way, the sentiment of the “disloyal” epithet places
Tillerson on the right side of history, given everything we have learned and
fear to learn about the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Eugene Robinson, in the Washington Post today, writes:

One of the most appalling aspects of the Trump
presidency is the sycophancy he requires of the officials who serve him. Trump
demands not just loyalty by flattery too. He insists that his courtiers treat
his pronouncements, however absurd or offensive, as infallible holy writ.
Members of his Cabinet have made a humiliating bargain: humor him, suck up to him,
and maybe—just maybe—he will leave you alone and let you make policy.

Whether Tillerson has broken the unforgiveable rule or
not will play out in the ensuing hours and days. And whether the rest of
Cabinet and the Republican leaders in both Houses of Congress can take heart
(not cover) from Tillerson’s irreverence and exert the kind of persistent,
unilateral and disciplined pressure on what is obviously a dangerous presidency
is also uncertain.

It is not merely the political futures of each of the
persons in the Cabinet that are at stake; it is also the fate of the nation
that is now threatened, as foreign leaders continue to find ways to run
“end-runs” around this impediment to democracy, to decency, to integrity and to
international order.

Sycophancy, patronizing colonialism, arrogance that
redefines narcissism and above all, detachment from reality….these are some of
the dangers inherent in the current presidency.

There are neither laws nor precedents for how to stop
this administration from continuing to dismantle many of the good institutions
and traditions of the United States. And we are watching a deficit in courage,
in telling truth to power, in imposing an iron-clad and unrelenting discipline
on this dangerous president….and General Kelly cannot be expected to accomplish
these ends by himself. It will take the whole of the American government to rid
itself of this cancer.

Can Robert Mueller issue his findings before Il Duce
issues his ubiquitous pardons of his retinue, his family and most deplorably,
himself?

It does not take an autistic savant, like Dr. Shaun
Murphy, on The Good Doctor, to discern the fatal and growing cancerous tumor on
the body of the United States nation. It will, however, take a team of
courageous, ethical and independent political surgeons, to remove the tumor and
provide a modicum of hope that the republic can restore much of the damage
already in evidence after only nine months of this Greek tragedy.